Error management culture and turnover intent among food and beverage employees in deluxe hotels: the mediating effect of job satisfaction

This study aimed to investigate interrelationships among organizational error management culture (EMC), job satisfaction, and turnover intent among food and beverage in a deluxe hotel. This study also investigated the mediating effects of employees’ job satisfaction on the relationships between organizational EMC and turnover intent. A total of 321 food and beverage employees in South Korea participated in the study using a self-administered questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to examine the hypothesized relationships between the constructs. The results showed a positive relationship between organizational EMC and employee job satisfaction. An employees’ job satisfaction reduces his or her turnover intent. Another important finding of this study was that job satisfaction appears to play a mediating role between organizational EMC and turnover intent. These findings have important implications for controlling and facilitating EMC in the hotel industry. This study implies that active EMC can be an important variable that can effectively manage turnover intent. It is important to build a system that can facilitate communication in the case of error occurrence and prevent the recurrence of the same error by sharing experience of and knowledge about errors. Moreover, a system that can instantly respond to and analyze an error situation should be developed and implemented. It is important to systematically manage errors as part of a firm’s culture through the appropriate use of EMC. Thus, it might be useful to identify and prioritize EMC specifically in the hotel industry, which could lead to higher job satisfaction, lower turnover intent, and higher profitability.     

Optimal mechanism design when both allocative inefficiency and expenditure inefficiency matter

We characterize the structure of optimal assignment rules when both allocative inefficiency and expenditure inefficiency (e.g., rent-seeking) are present. We find that the optimal structure critically depends on how the hazard rate of the value distribution behaves, and that it is often optimal to use probabilistic assignment rules so that the winner of the object is not always the one with the highest valuation. We also find that the inefficiency of the optimal assignment rule decreases as the variability of the value distribution increases.     

Do Negative Consumption Experiences Hurt Manufacturers or Retailers? The Influence of Reasoning Style on Consumer Blame Attributions and Purchase Intention

Negative consumption experiences adversely influence consumer perceptions of manufacturers and retailers. The author theorizes and finds that analytical thinkers are more likely than holistic thinkers to attribute the cause of the negative consumption experience to the manufacturer, resulting in lower repurchase intention of the manufacturer brand. In contrast, holistic thinkers are more likely than analytical thinkers to attribute the cause of the negative consumption experience to the retailer, resulting in lower repurchase intention at the retailer. These findings are important to marketing managers at both ends of the marketing supply chain—manufacturers and retailers—who deal with consumers with diverse cultural backgrounds.     

The effects of eWOM volume and valence on product sales – an empirical examination of the movie industry

The present research examines how quantitative and qualitative aspects – volume and valence – of eWOM on various social media platforms in the movie industry, along with other forms of marketing communications (e.g. advertising expenditure), predict box office and DVD sales for pre- and post-periods of movie releases. The analysis of aggregated big data from multiple sources – 65,665,859 social media postings from blogs, forums, news, and Twitter, Nielsen’s ad expenditure data, and Rotten Tomatoes ratings for 170 movies—revealed that the explanatory power of the model for box office revenue and DVD sales mostly comes from the volume, rather than valence, of eWOM.     

Transfer Pricing, Incentive Compensation and Tax Avoidance in a Multi-Division Firm

This article examines the relation between transfer pricing and production incentives using a model of a vertically integrated firm with divisions located in different tax jurisdictions. We show that if divisional profits are taxed at the same marginal rate, the transfer price should be set to minimize the compensation risk faced by the manager of the buying division. For the case where divisional profits are taxed at different marginal rates, we are able to characterize the trade-off between the tax savings from setting transfer prices to reduce profitability in the high tax jurisdication and the loss of effort attributable to the impact of tax avoidance on the incentive compensation system. Further, we show that if it is feasible to compensate the division managers using multiple performance measures, the transfer price should be used to minimize the firm's overall tax liability. Finally, we show that when authority to determine the transfer price must be delegated to one of the division managers, it is optimal to assign responsibility for setting the transfer price to the manager of the division with the most production uncertainty.     

Analytic valuation formulas for range notes and an affine term structure model with jump risks

We derive analytic valuation formulas for range accrual notes and spread range accrual notes under an affine term structure model with jump risks. We show that the value of a range accrual note can be significantly affected by the choice of interest rate model and the arrival intensity of jump risks. We also show that misuse of the correlation between reference rates of a spread range accrual note may lead traders and risk managers to mispricing of the note.     

Information content of volatility spreads

This study reexamines the determinants of volatility spreads and suggests a new forecast of future volatilities. Contrary to earlier volatility forecasts, the newly introduced forecast is applicable when investors are not risk‐neutral or when underlying returns do not follow a Gaussian probability distribution. This implies that the method is consistent with the presence of risk premia for other risks such as volatility risk. Using S&P 500 index options, we show that the new volatility forecast outperforms other volatility forecasts including risk‐neutral implied volatility and historical volatility in two aspects. First, the new forecast is superior to other estimates in terms of forecasting errors for future realized volatilities. Second, it is an unbiased estimator of future realized volatilities. This is shown using an encompassing regression analysis. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:533–558, 2010     

International,intra-national and inter-firm knowledge diffusion and technological catch-up: the USA,Japan, Korea and Taiwan in the memory chip industry

Using data on US patent citations, this paper investigates the pattern of international, intranational and interfirm knowledge diffusion in the process of technological catch-up by Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese firms in the memory chip industry. First, regarding international diffusion, this paper finds that the ordering of citations is exactly the same as the order of entry into the industry: Taiwanese firms tend to cite Korean firms, Korean firms tend to cite Japanese firms and Japanese firms tend to cite US firms. Second, the degree of intranational knowledge diffusion is proportional to the level of technological capability or order of entry, although it is also affected by organisational differences among the firms. Third, the difference in patterns of interfirm knowledge reflects difference across organisations, such that big Korean group firms are less oriented toward interfirm knowledge diffusion compared with their Taiwanese small and medium enterprise (SME) counterparts. To explain such difference, the role of government research institutions has been highlighted, especially since the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) accounts for the lion's share of Taiwanese-held patents and in the spin-offs of many firms in the industry.     

Controlling shareholders’ opportunistic use of share repurchases

This study examines how share repurchase and dividend policies are influenced by controlling shareholders in an emerging market. We maintain that the controlling shareholders can utilize share repurchase opportunistically, particularly when they exercise voting rights in excess of cash-flow rights. The evidence of Korean firms suggests that the wedge between the voting rights and cash-flow rights positively affects share repurchases but negatively affects cash dividends. We also find that share repurchases are not always supported by operating performances. The results indicate that firms may utilize share repurchases as a means to pursue private benefits of the controlling shareholders. We also document that share repurchases do not substitute for cash dividends, suggesting that share repurchases are not genuine distributions. Furthermore, we find that the wedge of share repurchases reduces firm value. Overall, our results indicate that the controlling shareholders of Korean firms use share repurchases opportunistically rather than strategically.